A fateful night - Devilman Apollo Part 1
by TrueDes
Summary: Upon a late night on his way home from work at the Wright Anything Agency, Apollo Justice stumbles on a most bizarre and nightmarish scene. This incident, fated or not, is one that would come to change the red lawyer's life, by pulling him into something he could never imagine.


The full moon hanged high up in the heavens over the city of Los Angeles, a city that was until recently mostly peaceful. Over the past month the Police department has had to deal with a growing number of bizarre and brutal series of murders throughout the city, seemingly unconnected except for one small detail… there were barely any full corpses left at any of the crime scenes.

Hanging his head with a sigh, Apollo Justice walked the quiet streets as he was returning home. Today had been yet another exhausting day at the Wright Anything Agency. Despite the fact the crew hadn't received any new cases as of late, Apollo was as always swarmed with paperwork enough for three people, namely that of his co-worker Athena Cykes and his boss and idol, Phoenix Wright.

"I wish for once one of them would help me out for real instead of getting distracted with something; I feel like one of these days my hand's going to fall off from all the writing." He would think to himself whilst rolling his wrist, gazing at it with a sullen look over his features.

Today was an exceptionally unlucky day for the young attorney when considering the fact he overslept and had to book it to the work place in a panic, only afterwards arrive realizing he could have taken his bicycle. This carelessness had now left him with even further regret as his home wasn't exactly close to downtown, which was where the office was.

A sudden shriek would pierce the otherwise eerily quiet evening, leaving Apollo to freeze under one of the streetlight on the desolate street. In a moment's notice he quite feeling sorry for himself and returned to reality, processing what he just heard.

"Was that… a woman's voice?" The attorney briefly thought to himself before breaking out into a sprint and cutting into one of the side streets, completely consumed by the night's veil.

Squinting his eyes, it was difficult for Apollo to make out his surroundings. The streetlights in this part of town were old and barely were able to produce any light, most not even working. He stopped in place for the moment as his hand shot down and into his pocket.

"Come on, come on… Aha!" Apollo exclaimed to himself as his hand found what he was looking for.

Bringing out his phone, the lawyer eyes immediately locked onto the screen the moment it turned on. Staring back at him was the picture of all his co-workers, his family, at the usual shop they went to after winning a case. For some reason Apollo took a moment to look at everyone's faces one by one, starting from Trucy, Phoenix and ending with Athena. When he was finished, the brave attorney's lips had unknowingly moved into a smile, his psyche calmed.

Lifting the phone up, Apollo once again broke into a sprint as he could now see just where he was going. Not long after the sound of a piece of glass breaking sounded from somewhere on the left, further down the street. The closer he came to the curve, the louder the sound of footsteps became, and with it the winded breathing of the woman in distress.

"A-Aaaah!? No!? N-No stay away you monster!?" The business woman whom was the supposed victim cried out and brandished a broken beet bottle at Apollo, just as she turned to take the right into his street. She appeared not much older than him, perhaps at least four years.  
"W-W-Whoa there! C-Calm down, it's okay! I'm not gonna hurt you!" Raising his hand and taking a step back, Apollo was quick to exclaim in a hurried manner with a calm tone.  
"N-N-No!? You're lying!? That's a lie!? You're with them!?" She exclaimed again and would slowly back up from the attorney, face distorted in an expression of pure horror.  
"I-I'm not, I swear! I just want to help you, please!" Now that she was on the defense, Apollo took a step forth and lowered the hand that held his phone whilst the other extended slowly towards the woman. At that moment his eyes widened, noticing the splatters of blood that covered her white suit and especially the claw mark across her stomach, befitting at the very least something the size of a big cat. "W-What happened to you? Who did this to you?" He questioned, visibly unable to comprehend what may have done this to the woman. There was no animal in the city that could do this, it was impossible.  
The lady would go to lower her guard at the clueless and shook Apollo, tears welling up in her eyes. "I-It was them! T-Those monsters, those de-"

In a single instance time would feel like it had stopped and all grown still, even sound. In the midst of the woman's sentence, a disfigured and horrific creature slowly came to slip out from the shadows. It was neither snake, nor tiger, yet embodied features of both beings if its head was anything to go by. The sickest of grins was formed over its lips as they were dyed red the moment it bit into the side of the woman, taking a chunk of her torso's right side cleanly off and slinking its elongated neck back into the darkness.

The light in the lady's eyes was snuffed out without her being even given the chance to finish her words. Falling down to its knees, a fountain of blood erupted from the corpse's wounds that would go to pile into a vivid crimson pool that traveled towards the young attorney.

The frozen in place Apollo, could do not but watch whilst a cold sweat ran down the side of his head. Slowly taking a step back, his hands began to shake and the urge to cry out steadily built up. But he couldn't.

"Oh dearie~… this wasn't supposed to happen…" A layered and distorted voice spoke out from the shadows.  
"Hmmm, this is a first… Told you to kill her before she ran though, idiot." Another followed suit.  
"Eeeh, but where's the fun in that~! It's always better when you get to see that sweet expression all of them make when they realize there's no way out… Like this one right now~." The first voice replied with a twisted hum. "Ooooh just look at how tasty he looks~! So ripe for the picking~!"  
"Tch… I suppose you have a point… He does look pretty tasty too…" Chuckling, the second voice replied.

Whilst the hidden ones continued with their banter, Apollo began to feel it difficult even move his legs. His dark eyes shot quickly to wherever his phone screen illuminated the darkness, searching for the predators. Clutching at his chest, the attorney swallowed hard and started to step back slowly.

"Say, boy, why don't we play a game~? Given we're a fair bit away from the main street, what I have in mind would work perfectly~." The first spoke with a cackle as a heavy thud sounded from behind Apollo. "If you manage to find your way out of here before we catch you, we'll let you go free and forget this ever happened~..." Soon after the first thud, another one would sound from behind. "… Are you ready~?" The twisted layered voice questioned, coming from right behind the red lawyer.

Apollo was unable to speak. Feeling his eyes well up, he bit down hard on his lower lip and mustered all his strength and will to push himself forth whilst holding the phone so it would light up the way ahead.  
"Ohoho, now that's the spirit!" Ecstatic laughter bellowed from both creatures, soon after a paralyzing howl.

The red lawyer's mind had drawn a complete blank. Now he was driven but nothing else but the most primal of fear in this sadistic game of cat and mouse. Despite the heavy footsteps that sounded behind him, Apollo didn't want to turn back. He knew that if he was to turn around now, he would surrender to the fear, his leg seizing to run. Yet the urge to turn to take a look at his pursuers was every growing, to see how much further they were away from catching him… So he shouted. With his Cords of Steel, Apollo Justice cried out unto the high heavens and above as he ran like a lost lamb through the deep dark woods. Not even the sight of the sea of crimson that came to cover over his path or the people littered in it bothered him anymore. He was in a living nightmare, and escape was his only priority.

He slipped and fell, he turned a corner only to stumble and lose balance, but Apollo didn't stop. At last, after traversing the nightly maze of alleys and streets he'd found himself in, Apollo once more found himself onto the main street her arrive in, the beacon that was the street lamp calling to him. Tightly clutching onto his phone, he turned around to look at it once more and unlock it whilst continuing to run. Opening his contacts, his eyes locked on the first person in the tab, Athena. Without a second thought he pressed the ear to his phone and tightly shut his eyes as he continued to run. The stampede behind him had stopped, but Apollo couldn't afford to take the chance and slow down. Each time the sound of the dial sounded in his ear he would push himself just a bit more, each time recalling something small or insignificant he had taken for granted.

"The number you're trying to reach is currently unavailable or outside network coverage, would you like to leave a voice mail?" Those words would force the young man's open, only to pull him back into that nightmare. Before Apollo's eyes was a black cage of teeth that belonged to something much, much bigger than whatever had begun chasing him. Pulling him back into the nightmare he had stepped into and barring him from reaching the light that was just mere feet away, Apollo reach out unto the light… but was enclosed in the dark.


End file.
